The jurors are deprived of authority – Newspaper Kommersant No. 23 (7468) of 02/08/2023
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Andrei Klishas, head of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building, Senator Vladimir Poletaev, and State Duma Deputy Irina Pankina (United Russia) propose to exclude from the jurisdiction of the jury cases against persons occupying the highest position in the criminal hierarchy. Such amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure were submitted by them to the State Duma on Tuesday. This will provide additional guarantees for the safety of participants in the process, assure the authors of the initiative. Experts point out that the competence of the jury is steadily declining.
Parliamentarians in their bill propose to exclude from the competence of the jury criminal cases on crimes under Part 4 of Art. 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (organization of a criminal community (OPS) by a person occupying a high position in the criminal hierarchy) and article 210.1 (occupying a higher position in the criminal hierarchy). These are quite exotic compositions. So, neither in the first half of last year, nor for the whole of 2021 under Part 4 of Art. 210 not a single verdict was issued. Eight people were convicted for the highest position in the criminal hierarchy in 2021, and seven in the first half of 2022.
Other parts of Article 210, like cases of terrorism, have long been removed from the jurisdiction of the jury. However, those accused of organizing a criminal community can count on this option of considering the case if they are additionally charged with other structures. For example, the former FSB major Alexander Mrishchuk was simultaneously accused of creating the Raccoon gang using his official position (part 3 of article 210) and banditry (part 3 of article 209 of the Criminal Code). Initially, he was tried by a jury, but in 2021, the Second Western District Military Court, due to formal errors, interrupted the consideration of the case and returned it to the prosecutor. He stopped the persecution of Mr. Mrishchuk under Article 209 of the Criminal Code “Banditry”, and the case went to the panel of three judges.
Kommersant wrote that in February last year, the Moscow City Court, relying on the verdict of the jury, acquitted a native of Ingushetia, Dulat Joullo (also known as Akhmed Sutuly), who was tried under Article 210.1. Subsequently, the court of appeal overturned the acquittal, but by that time Mr. Joullo had disappeared.
Such cases require a “highly professional legal assessment,” the authors of the bill say. And their main argument boils down to the fact that jurors cannot count on the increased security measures necessary for judges in cases against crime bosses. “In most criminal cases of this category, security measures were taken in relation to participants in criminal proceedings, including those related to the interrogation of witnesses under a pseudonym while keeping their identity data secret, in conditions that preclude their visual observation by other participants in the criminal process,” the press quoted the press service as saying. service of the Federation Council of Andrei Klishas. “In relation to jurors, such anonymity cannot be ensured.”
If a jury has already been established in the country, then it should be for everyone, dissatisfied with the next reduction in the jurisdiction of the jury, State Duma deputy (KPRF), former First Deputy Prosecutor of Moscow Yuri Sinelshchikov. “Otherwise, it turns out that we admit that the jury are fools who can only be trusted with easy cases, but not with serious ones,” the communist told Kommersant. The parliamentarian does not even understand that terrorism cases have been excluded from the jury system. “After all, a person can be accused of terrorism unreasonably, for example, for political reasons. Or, let’s say, the mafia broke through and bribed the investigators and prosecutors,” explains Mr. Sinelshchikov.
Lawyer and former investigator for especially important cases Andrey Grivtsov believes that the new bill is a continuation of the “consistent policy of attacks” on the jury, and also notes that the jurisdiction of the cases considered by him is almost always reduced. “This is bad, because given the accusatory bias of the judiciary, the jury is practically the only chance for justice,” the lawyer said.
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